(201) Magazine Blogs

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Again, here’s the game story from The Record and northjersey.com/sports.

Beyond the win tonight, the sense in the Rangers’ room was that the players saw today as a victory for the organization. Brandon Dubinsky wasn’t sent to Columbus for Rick Nash. Nobody was sent to Columbus for Rick Nash. Not that the players have anything against Rick Nash. But whether they’ll say it publicly or not, they did want to stay together and have a chance to compete in the playoffs together.

“We’re just looking forward to the next game and it’s a great mentality to have,” said defenseman Ryan McDonagh, one of those mentioned in the Nash trade rumors, though the Rangers never had any desire to trade him. “We ave such a tight-knit group. We really hold each other accountable, battle and have the will to compete. That’s a tough thing to find in a locker room, especially at this level.”

“Every player goes through stuff like he does at this time of the year,” Brad Richards said, specifically talking about Brandon Dubinsky, who was rumored to be gone to Columbus in any Nash trade. “There’s been a lot of stuff around the team but we’re confident in everybody. He stepped up with some good hits and he had a good fight. He loves being a Ranger.”

There is one new player coming, 6-foot-8, 270-pound defenseman/forward John Scott from the Blackhawks. Who will probably see limited ice time as he helps Mike Rupp, Brandon Prust and Stu Bickel literally fight the Rangers’ battles through the grueling March schedule (17 games in 31 days). Dubinsky, asked about Scott, said “He’s a monster,” then, realizing what that sounded like, quickly added, “size-wise.” Dubinsky said the team was looking forward to meeting him and anticipated Scott fitting into the group pretty easily. Scott is due to arrive in New York Tuesday but the Rangers do not skate again until Wednesday.

Also tonight, the Devils 13 shots represents the fewest the Rangers have held an opponent to since the Flames had 11 shots on goal on Jan. 19, 1981.

And I asked Henrik Lundqvist the significance, to him, of extending his NHL record to seven straight seasons to start his career with at least 30 wins.

“I remember my first year, it was a big deal to reach it, now it’s my seventh year,” Lundqvist said. “It means a lot. It means things are going well and it means I’m playing for a club that gives me the opportunity to play a lot. I want to improve each year. So far, it’s good.”

About

ANDREW GROSS covers the New York Rangers for The Record and Herald News, having joined the North Jersey Media Group in November 2007. Gross also covered the Rangers and New York Jets, as well as St. John’s basketball and Army football, for Gannett Newspapers and The Journal News (N.Y.). He graduated from Syracuse University in 1989 with a degree in newspaper journalism.